I overheard a student the other day discussing her, apparently mandatory, meal card. I remember that well. All freshmen living in dorms at almost every college/university must participate. My first semester I rarely ate in the cafeteria because the food sickened me.
So one of my students was saying that she had over $1000 on her meal card. WOW! I can't help but think what that amount of money can buy. I find this so very sad.
Why do I feel so old? Well, because I can't help but think about the costs of things. In my day most rented those little cubicle dorm fridges for like $50/year or semester even. Now? You can buy a small fridge/freezer that is separate for not much more!! There were no Home Depots, Lowes, WalMarts, Costcos, Sam's Club, BJ's back then. And yet with all that they have available, *kids* these days are (a) on the one hand still forced into ridiculous mealplans and such , and (b) on the other hand so absolutely clueless that they cannot fend for themselves and realize how cheap that can really be! All this not to mention your mega supermarkets.
With food so cheap, I cringe at all meals provided by educational establishments. Even back in my day we had community kitchens in the dorms. I can get no hot pots and such for safety reasons, but a micro? Between this there should be no reason to require meal plans.
My student was lamenting not being able to spend those $ on clothes. I concur. But all of this "in my day" stuff, and being older than most of my students' parents is making me feel awfully OLD :(
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